Space Launch Calendar 2019: Sky Events, Missions & More

LAST UPDATED Sept. 3: These dates are subject to change, and will be updated throughout the year as firmer dates arise. Please DO NOT schedule travel based on a date you see here. Launch dates collected from NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, Spaceflight Now and others.

Sept. 6/7:India's Chandrayaan-2 mission will arrive at the moon. The Vikram lunar lander is expected to touch down at about 1:30-2:30 a.m. India Standard Time on Sept. 7 (4:00-5:00 p.m. EDT on Sept. 6).

Sept. 10: Japan will launch the HTV-8 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. It will lift off from the Tanegashima Space Center on a Japanese H-2B rocket at 5:33 p.m. EDT (2133 GMT). [Watch Live]

Sept. 10: Neptune at opposition. This is the best time of year to see Neptune — if you have a good telescope.

Sept. 14: The Japanese HTV-8 cargo spacecraft will arrive at the International Space Station at 7:10 a.m. EDT (1110 GMT). [Watch Live]

Sept. 23: Equinox. Today is the first day of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sept. 25: Three new Expedition 61 crewmembers will launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft: NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, and Hazzaa Ali Almansoori of the United Arab Emirates. They will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Russian Soyuz rocket at 9:57 a.m. EDT (1257 GMT). [Watch Live]

Sept. 28: New moon.

Sept. 30: An International Launch Services Proton rocket will launch the Eutelsat 5 West B communications satellite and the first Mission Extension Vehicle for Northrop Grumman. It will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

An Arianespace Vega rocket will launch on the Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) proof-of-concept mission with multiple small satellites from Kourou, French Guiana.

October

Oct. 1: Happy birthday, NASA! The agency turns 61 years old today.

Oct. 2: In a Change of Command ceremony at the International Space Station, Russian Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin will hand over command of the space station to European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano.

Oct. 3: NASA astronaut Nick Hague, Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and Hazzaa Ali Almansoori of the United Arab Emirates will return to Earth from the International Space Station. Undocking is scheduled for 3:35 a.m. EDT (0735 GMT), and the crew will land near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at 6:58 a.m. EDT (1058 GMT).

Oct. 21: Northrop Grumman will launch the Cygnus NG-12 cargo mission to the International Space Station. It will lift off from Wallops Island, Virginia on an Antares rocket at 2:39 p.m. EDT (1839 GMT).

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner may launch on its first uncrewed mission, called the Orbital Flight Test (OFT), to the International Space Station. It will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

India will launch the first Cartosat 3-series Earth observation satellite.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to launch the second batch of approximately 60 satellites for SpaceX's Starlink constellation.

November

Nov. 2:Moon occults Saturn. The moon will pass in front of the ringed planet for skywatchers in New Zealand. Meanwhile, skywatchers in other parts of the world will see the two bodies make a close approach, or a conjunction.

Nov. 3:Daylight saving time ends. Set your clocks back an hour at 2 a.m. — and maybe enjoy an extra hour of sleep!

Nov. 11-12:Mercury transits the sun. Skywatchers (wearing proper eye protection) can see the small planet Mercury pass in front of the sun.

Boeing's CST-100 Starliner will launch on its first crewed test flight to the International Space Station.

Crew Dragon Demo 2: SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to take its first crewed test flight to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on board. This will be the Crew Dragon's first test flight with astronauts on board following the uncrewed Demo-1 mission in March.

An Arianespace Vega rocket will launch the United Arab Emirates' Falcon Eye 2 Earth observation satellite from Kourou, French Guiana.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the JCSAT 18/Kacific 1 communications satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket will launch 14 cubesats for the ELaNa-20 rideshare mission. A Boeing 747 named "Cosmic Girl" will air-launch the rocket over the Pacific Ocean after taking off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.

An Arianespace Soyuz rocket will launch the first COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation (CSG 1) radar surveillance satellite for the Italian space agency. Flying as a secondary payload is the European Space Agency's Characterizing Exoplanet Satellite (CHEOPS). The mission will lift off from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana.

Dec. 25-26: An annular solar eclipse will be visible from the Arabian Peninsula to Indonesia. A partial solar eclipse will be visible across much of Asia, the Middle East, Australia and western Africa.

India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) will launch on its first orbital test flight. It will launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India.

More coming in 2019...

China will launch the Chang'e 5 mission to return samples from the moon. It will be the first lunar sample return mission attempted since 1976.

India's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) will launch on its first commercial mission with four Earth observation satellites for BlackSky Global. It will lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India.

Please send any corrections, updates or suggested calendar additions to hweitering@space.com. Follow Space.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.